Express+or+Capuccino?

Author: Monica Gonzalez-Perez Illustrations: Fatima Lopez || ||
 * || =Express or Capuccino?=

Overview
 “Express or Capuccino?” has nothing to do with Coffee, but with the security issue Mexico is facing. In Mexican Spanish jargon there is an expression which refers to expedite kidnapping (usually in order to secure quick money) as a “Secuestro Express”.Secuestro “Capuccino” is a humorous allusion to other modalities of kidnapping. Because the game is about making difficult decisions in dilemmas, “Express or Capuccino?” is an appropriate name.  As a result of enormous amounts of illegal drug money and black market arms flooding in from the USA, in the context of a weak judiciary system and pervading poverty, Mexico has been overrun by drug barons and their networks.  The idea of the game is to put the player in the shoes of a police chief, in a scenario in which a family member of the chief (son or daughter) is kidnapped.The chief faces ethical dilemmas from two perspectives, that of being the father of the victim and that of heading the public security system.  Dilemma  questions include:
 * Should the Police Chief obtain the funds to pay the ransom?
 * Should the Police Chief denounce the crime and to whom: the police or the media?
 * Should the Police Chief take the law into his own hands?

Instructional Objective
Learners will contextualize situations in which ethical principles are violated and will contemplate the consequences of violating those principles.It will reinforce ethical decisions in the context of the Ethics Certificate they receive from the Universidad Virtual del Estado de Guanajuato (UVEG) on successfully completing the Ethics course.

Learners
The game is designed to train Public Ministry employees in ethics, from the agency secretary up to the police chief her or himself. They are adults with at least a High School Diploma. They do not have intellectual profiles, so training must get to the point and relate to everyday working life. Cases should be as close to reality as possible. The layout of the game should be straight forward; the players do not have time to get confused when navigating. They do not have much technological know-how,so needless complexities such as plug-ins or downloading software should be avoided.

Context of Use
The game will be used in the training facility, since many participants do not have a home computer or internet service. It is important that the design of the game takes into consideration available UVEG SERVERS wide band, which means it is essential to avoid consuming too much band wide.

The game can be played on a computer lab at work or on site at the UVEG. It is designed to be played several times because the game offers three different variables (routes). The game will take 15 minutes maximum and it will be developed on a Flash platform to minimize wideband requirements.

Scope
“Express or Capuccino?” is a simulation. It presents a scenario in a comic format; from then on, participants choose which route they would like to follow, and they have to make decisions "on the way" which forces them to face the consequences of their decisions. It sums up to a total of 69 screens, three of which will be the decision points.

Object of the Game
The object of the game is to rescue the hostage without violating the ethical principles dictated by the United Nations..

Competing Products

 * Name of the game || Similarities || Differeces ||
 * [|Against all odds] || 1.The topic concerns the same issue i.e. Human Rights and Ethical Principles

2. Both use the comic format to present the scenario.

3.Both are decision based games and the decision the player makes defines what route she follows. || 1."Against all Odds" is more a branching game and gives little decision power to the player. 2. "Against all Odds" does not offer you the advisor facility when the player is making decisions.

3. "Express or Capuccino" does not use web resources; the whole educational content is inside the game. ||
 * [|Ethics Simulation] || 1.The topic is concerns the same theme which is Ethics.

2.The player has an advisor who can help her to make decisions

3. Both present a summary of decisions with feedback. || 1. The very academic and crude environment of the "Ethics eimulation" which does not make you feel you are playing.

2. In Express or Capuccino, the player can take advise from different experts: the burocrat, the soldier, the lawyer, the social worker, the priest and the journalist. ||

**Design Details**
The illustrations are in the form of a cartoon strip. The topic itself is violent and frightening, so the illustrations should be less explicit than photographs or video.

The game presents two types of design: branching and simulation.

1. Branching because the game illustrates cause and effect relationships. e.g. "If you choose to denounce and you denounce to the police you face the risk that the police leak to the criminals the fact that you have reported the crime".

2. Simulation. As a player you can choose at the very beginning if you want to be female or male. If you choose to be female in this game you face more disadvantages due to the fact that Mexico is a macho culture. As female character you face sexual harassment. This aspect of the game was included because it is real life and is included in the Ethics course content. You can also choose what to do after your family member has been kidnapped by selecting from the variables of paying the ranson, denouncing or taking the law into your own hands. Then you can choose from the different dilemmas: "Should I commit fraud or should I run down my family patrimony?" "Should I denounce to the police or to the media?, "Should I contract a rival gang or organize a secret inside investigation?" "Should I hire the //Zetas// gang or the //Familia//?"

Each dilemma is presented together with an advisory panel consisting of: a burocrat, a soldier, specialist lawyer in kidnapping, a social worker, a priest and a journalist. As the potential events unfold, the police chief can take specialist advise concerning decisions pending. The advisory panel provides the educational content of the game.

Game Flowchart Branching Simulation: 1. Female police Chief [|Express_or_capuccionov3_female.jpg][|Express_or_capuccionov3_female.jpg] 2. Male police Chief [|Express_or_capuccionov3_Male.jpg] The game starts with the first dilemma: Gender. Who would you like to be, a Female police chief or Male police chief? At this point the player does not know that being female has more disadvantages unless she or he is very **intuitive.**



A comic strip representing the scenario of the criminal event appears in the next screen. Because the topic is very crude, a doses of humor and fiction are necessary in order to make the experience more pleasant. The comic strip should be like [|Kaliman] (a Mexican famous comic strip from the 60's).



The next screen is an animation that will start with a phone falling down, fading out into a blank screen and then into the next screen. The ethical dilemmas are then displayed and the player decides how she would like to proceed in order to get her family member back: how she would pay the ranson, how she would denounce and how she would take justice into her own hands. In this screen the player can see three routes, representing: ranson, denounce or justice. The player can choose the path he wants to follow.



As explained above each dilemma is presented together with an advisory panel which combines different perspectives. The following table explains each character perspective in relation to the crime in question.

Once the player has been advised on how to take action she can make her own mind up concerning the options. Because both options are bad anyway, an element of luck is introduced into the game. The idea of introducing luck is just to make it a little predecitable. For instance if the player chooses to steal money from the Federal Budget, she is lucky if she can get away with it by having to live overseas and she is unlucky if she gets caught and goes to jail. In the summary of decisions, the player receives feedback about the decisions she took and how they affect her final situation.
 * [[image:BUROCRATA_WIKI_(7).jpg width="74" height="199"]] || Burocrat || Offers practical guidance from the point of view of an employee. ||
 * [[image:POLICIA_WIKI_(5).jpg width="76" height="201"]] || Soldier || Obsessive concerning discipline and routine. Analytic and calculating. His motto is keep a cool head, think and act. The soldier can help the player in terms of strategy and cuation. ||
 * [[image:ABOGADA_WIKI.jpg width="76" height="201"]] || Lawyer || The law is her bible. Everyting which one does or says must be fundamented in the law. Orientates the player on how to act, according to the law. ||
 * [[image:TRABAJADORA_SOC_WIKI_(8).jpg width="75" height="200"]] || Social Worker || Offers practical guidance concerning family matters. ||
 * [[image:SACERDOTE_WIKI_(6).jpg width="76" height="201"]] || Priest || Represents the moral viewpoint. Given his training, he is able to understand human pain and thereby give advice on how pain can effect the ability to take ethical decisions. ||
 * [[image:PERIODISTA_WIKI_(4).jpg width="75" height="200"]] || Journalist || Always observant, going after the truth. She registers everything. Can put the crime jigsaw together. Advises the player on how to relate events in order to reach a hypothesis. ||

Technical Elements
Specific software needed:  The game will be developed on a Flash Platform.
 * Adobe Photoshop CS3
 * Illustrator CS3
 * <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Flash CS3
 * <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Dreamweaver CS3

Motivational Issues
"Express or Capuccino?" is about making choices and accepting the consequences of those choices. A choice implies a sacrifice because you suffer the uncertainity of the consequences which follow. The first choice the player has to make is whether to be female or male. Choosing to be female can result in sexual harassment from the criminals or even the police. According to Malone & Lepper (1980), "...if one is certain to achieve a goal or certain not to achieve the goal, then the environment will not be challenging...motivation will be maximal when uncertainity is maximal." Sacrifices are neccesary in this E Game in order to make it more challenging and to keep the learner engaged.

Uncertainity is also presented in this game at the finale when the player faces the consequences of his actions. The game design allows the player to be lucky, even when one of the four decisions she takes en route is a bad one, she may be able to escape punishment, just like in real life.

The panel of advisors is another important element of learner motivation. Malone & Lepper (1980) mention that feedback concerning performance is a key component providing continous challenge. The panel of advisors offers the player the opportunity to really think about the sacrifes and choices she is willing to take.

The summary of decisions was designed with the intension of providing the learner with a sense of satisfaction relating to the fact that the learner is confident that her efforts are consistent with her expectations (Keller & Suzuki, 1988)

Design Process
The idea of an Ethics E Game originated from a colleague who is currently designing a course in Ethics. He wanted to have something fun that would motivate students to learn more about Ethics in the context of civil servants from the Justice Secretariat of the State of Guanajuato.

The creative team at work discussed the issue and created the game concept. At first we thought about crime denouncing and just how cumbersome the process is in Mexico. One of my colleagues had the idea of writing a funny story about a politician who was a looser and suffered a "Secuestro Express" or expedite kidnapping and nobody wanted to pay the ransom, nor even his lover. From that story the idea of game started to take form.

My colleagues and friends then started talking about stories we knew about kidnapping and I wrote down common themes, for example, the risks one takes when deciding to pay the ranson, or the fact that people may not denounce crimes to the police because they do not trust them or because the process is very bureocratic and painful, and finally the frustration concerning unsecurity in Mexico can sometimes explain why people take justice in their own hands. I realized I had the basis of the dilemmas so I only needed to add more context. I also did a little bit of searching about kidnapping stories in order to understand what happens to the family involved and the agony and frustation of not knowing if your loved one will survive.

I looked for games on similar topics, for example human rights. I found "Against all Odds" which is a game about people who migrate to a new country. What I like most about this game is its cartoonish style which makes it less dense. I decided that my game should be cartoonish.

After clarifying ideas I started mapping the screens, so I could see how the causes relate to the consequences and how the player could have different options to choose from. In order to have a better idea of the look and feel of the game, I asked my illustrator to make some sample screens. Once I had the sample screens it was easier to get feedback from other people.

Due to my job responsibilities I hardly had time to dedicate to the design of this game, I needed to be efficient. I felt I wasted too much time fleshing the idea out. When I was desperate I talked to my friends and colleagues about this project and it really helped me out because I could get insight from other people. If I could do this project again I would be more organized, I would take more notes and I would write down everything, even if I didn't then use it.